U.S. Holiday Air Traffic to Rise 3.1%, Group Says

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. airlines will carry 43.6 million
passengers during the Christmas-New Year’s holiday season, a 3.1
percent increase from a year earlier, as travel demand rises,
the Air Transport Association estimated.

As many as 2.3 million people a day may fly during the
21-day period from Dec. 16 through Jan. 5, the Washington-based
trade group for the major U.S. carriers said in a statement
today. Planes may average as much as 90 percent full on the
busiest days, according to the association.

“With demand for air travel showing signs of improvement,
airlines are hoping to see industry profitability continue into
2011,” James C. May, the group’s chief executive officer, said
in the statement.

The federal government may open some restricted airspace
during the period to ease congestion, as it did during the
Thanksgiving holidays, the group said.

The three days leading up to Christmas Eve, the five days
after Christmas and the two days after New Year’s Day are
expected to be the busiest, based on data from the 2009
holidays, the association said. Its estimate for last year’s
traffic was 42.3 million passengers.

Southwest Airlines Co. led the biggest U.S. carriers in
November with a 10.7 percent gain in traffic as measured in
miles flown by paying passengers. US Airways Group Inc. and
Delta Air Lines Inc. both reported increases for the month of
more than 5 percent from a year earlier.